One of the ways that HITECH Answers is different from other media sites is the sense of community. The thought leaders in our community are good about sharing their thoughts on the issues of today. We publish at least eleven guest posts a week now, on our three sites. In case you missed some, here are the top ten read and shared guest posts in the month of October. You can also read previous month’s Top Ten Lists. Thank you for contributing and reading.
Most Played Radio Episode in October
From HIPAA Chat! host David Harlow, JD MPH (@healthblawg) discusses controlling role-based access as a strategy to mitigate risk; OCR decision in MD Anderson sends the message that encryption cannot be avoided; The recent LabCorp breach; Cases of criminal liability for HIPAA breaches.
Most Read Thought Leader Posts in October
A Meaningful End to “Meaningful Use?”
By William Hersh, MD, Professor and Chair, OHSU
Twitter: @williamhersh
The era of meaningful use came to a relatively quiet end this summer with the release of the Final Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems rule by CMS this past August. The rule put into place most of what had been in the proposed rule earlier in the year. Although the rule has much detail on what healthcare organizations must achieve to receive incentive payments and/or avoid penalties, a large symbolic change is the renaming of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs now be called Promoting Interoperability Programs. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
Eight Best Practices to Prepare for an OCR HIPAA Audit
By Shane Whitlatch, Executive Vice President, FairWarning, Inc.
Twitter: @FairWarningLLC
It can be helpful to think of good compliance practices as preventive maintenance. It’s easier to have prepared all along than have to scramble to prove compliance when an audit comes up. Because the requirements for various regulations are widely available, you can start preparing for an Office of Civil Rights (OCR) HIPAA audit long before the notification letter hits your mailbox. And even if you aren’t chosen for a random HIPAA audit, you can still face penalties for noncompliance if you experience a patient complaint or a breach. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
Breached Records to Skyrocket with SMBs as the Biggest Targets
By Art Gross, President and CEO, HIPAA Secure Now!
Twitter: @HIPAASecureNow
A lot can happen in 5 years, and unfortunately, not always for the better. According to a recent report by Juniper Research, Cybercrime & the Internet of Threats 2018, data breaches are expected to reach 146 billion records over the next five years. For cybercriminals to successfully compromise such an extreme number of records, significant annual growth in breached records is expected to occur (22.5% growth). According to the Juniper report, 2018 is expected to see 12 billion records compromised, while 2023 is expected to see more than 33 billion records stolen by cybercriminals. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
HIM Performance and Payer Denials Grab Attention at AHIMA 18
By Beth Friedman, RHIT, BSHA, CEO, Agency Ten22
Twitter: @AgencyTen22
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) held its 90th annual convention and exhibit last week in Miami, Florida. Amid humidity, convention center construction and political banter, attendees found common ground on two important revenue cycle issues: operational performance and payer denials. Continue reading on RCMAnswers.net…
5 Reasons To Take Your Healthcare Compliance Audits Mobile
By Ken Reiher, VP Operations, ComplyAssistant
Twitter: @ComplyAssistant
It’s funny how the definition of the old-fashioned way changes over time. With innovation and advances in technology, we get faster, easier and more accurate. Who knew that one day, we’d be calling flip phones or desktop computers old-fashioned? If you’re still doing HIPAA audits the old-fashioned way with pen and paper, you’re missing out on valuable time savings, and you could be making critical errors in the back-end reporting of healthcare compliance audit information. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
Benefits of a Longitudinal Patient View in Ambulatory Quality Reporting
By John D’Amore, President and Chief Strategy Officer, Diameter Health
Twitter: @DiameterHealth
Initiatives to measure the quality of healthcare delivered in the United States are not new. The Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures are the primary mechanism used to evaluate and compare the quality of care provided to health plan members. HEDIS was developed over two decades with oversight by the National Committee for Quality Assurance as a reliable, robust program for quality measurement. Health plan members gather longitudinal claims data on covered patients and from this perspective, a holistic view of patient care may be achieved. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
FDA Budget Matters: Advancing Innovation in Digital Health
By Scott Gottlieb, M.D., Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Twitter: @US_FDA
Twitter: @SGottliebFDA
When the Food and Drug Administration recently granted marketing authorization for two medical apps for Apple’s new Watch, it marked a significant step forward for the agency’s overall approach to the development of digital health. As described in existing guidance, the FDA generally reviews medical apps without reviewing the general purpose computing platform they sit upon, such as a phone. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
Health Care Fraud Takedown: DOJ Holds Medical Professionals Accountable
By Sheba Vine, JD, CPCO, VP & General Counsel, 1st Healthcare Compliance
Twitter: @1sthcc
The Department of Justice (DOJ), with assistance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and several other law enforcement agencies, recently announced the results of its national health care fraud takedown. As the government continues to prioritize its efforts on combating health care fraud, it is prudent for health care providers to apply the same priority to mitigating risk in these areas. Continue reading on RCMAnswers.net…
Giving Time Back to Clinicians
By Susmit Pal, Healthcare Field Director, Dell EMC
Twitter: @DellEMCHealth
Twitter: @SusmitPalAtDell
Connected, intelligent healthcare organizations are reclaiming a precious commodity: time—more specifically, time to spend with patients. Leveraging the latest in mobile, IoT, integrated compute, multi-cloud, and predictive analytics, these organizations are helping to transform the way that their clinicians work, making them more productive and efficient so that they can transform the way that they serve their patients. Continue reading on HealthDataAnswers.net…
Healthcare Information Exchanges: The Glue Holding Together Value-based Healthcare
By Justin Campbell, Vice President, Galen Healthcare Solutions
Twitter: @tjustincampbell
Twitter: @GalenHealthcare
For many years, the medical profession has struggled to devise a simple, secure way to share its extraordinary volume of data. This has been particularly difficult because healthcare delivery organizations have arguably lacked compelling incentives to exchange data from their electronic health record systems. This situation reflects the data crisis in healthcare today: the care of patients is burdened with paper-based record systems and information stored within different provider systems. Continue reading on HealthDataAnswers.net…
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